Andrew Liles — Neither Precious Nor Noble

Some of the world will look at the periodic table and see dull rows of squares and letters, but others will see inspiration, looking to pull some chaos from its well ordered matrix. Andrew Liles is one that wanted to tap into these elements and let them sing. In Neither Precious Nor Noble, he focuses on twenty different metals, turning them into sound sources, and working his magic on them to create a really cool and very listenable collection of tracks. As each element has different properties from the next, so do the pieces on Precious, with no overlying sound or motif, the elements are interpreted on their own, individually.

If a strong, metal support system is needed to provide structural integrity, Neither Precious Nor Noble has it in spades. With twenty different metals providing the source material, Liles was able to run the gamut of sounds, interpreting each differently, creating a fun and somewhat chaotic mix of sounds. Some familiar (cobalt, titanium, manganese), some exotic (rhenium, niobium, hafnium), the metals on display aren't resigned to being heavy, industrial, or rough, as one might gather, but instead, Liles lets their more playful side out, somewhat bubbly and free flowing like metallic valence electrons should be. Whether banged, dropped, scratched, or whatever percussive method was available, the resulting sounds provided plenty of inspiration for both straight recording and digital manipulation. Looping some of the recorded percussive strikes gives some of the pieces on Precious a rudimentary beat, resulting in surprise head bobbing and grooving, while other manipulations give an otherworldly sound that lends itself to droning and spacing out. Often, the album plays like someone utilizing new modules and patches on their modular synth, having fun and experimenting with different approaches for each song.

Neither Precious Nor Noble is a hard album to describe, but it is quick moving, quirky, and very interesting, both sonically and conceptually. While people have been singing the praises of silver and gold for ages, Andrew Liles eschews the precious metals and delves into some of the lesser known, but equally important metals and gives them their much needed due. This metallic Mendeleevian madness runs the gamut of sound and never leaves the listener longing for more and may even inspire the curious to learn about some new elements.